ProSPER.Net E-bulletin Issue 118 (November 2022)

Message from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Greetings from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat! It has been a busy month for events, most notably COP27. See below for a round-up of some events that were held around the Conference, as well as those upcoming. We would also like to thank all who applied to the 2022 ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme - we look forward to bringing selected participants this programme next month on the topic of 'Shifting to Net Zero: Implementation strategies for net-zero transitions'.

If you have any news, open calls, upcoming events, or publications you wish to share in a future bulletin, please complete this form and email your submission to the ProSPER.Net Secretariat at ProSPERNet@unu.edu (submissions close on the 15th of each month).

Sincerely,
ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Post-COP27 Climate Change Education: Where do we go from here?
29 November 2022, 14:00 CET, online

This webinar, part of UNESCO-UNFCCC's series on the road to COP27, will look back at COP27 now that it is over, and examine its key takeaways, achievements, and commitments made related to climate change education. Read more

Webinar: Relationship between Circular Economy and Sustainable Development Goals
8 December 2022, 17:00-18:30 (AEDT), online

Economic growth based on a linear economic model is not feasible with the reality that our resources are finite. Moreover, a limited capacity for landfill at end of life is also putting more pressure on governments. Transforming away from this model is urgently needed as resources are better managed and holistic solutions of material flow as well as waste elimination are considered through supply chains. The Circular Economy (CE) model has been globally regarded as a promising solution to tackle these issues. However, there is still a question: "What is the relationship between CE and the Sustainable Development Goals?". To address this question, this seminar will discuss the relationship of CE and SDGs as well as analyse local-based CE case studies mapped against the SDGs to get an in-depth understanding of how CE can be considered as a tool to meet the SDGs and ultimately meet sustainability outcomes.

As part of the webinar series in the ProSPER.Net research project 'Circular Economy Integration for Sustainable Built Environment Education', this second webinar will be presented by five universities: RMIT, University of Peradeniya, TERI School of Advanced Studies, Asian Institute of Technology, and Arabaev Kyrgyz State University.

The webinar will start with an introduction to CE, SDGs, and the built environment. A literature review will be presented with a focus on the relationships between CE and SDGs and how the three triple bottom lines of sustainability can be achieved by CE practices. Local-based case studies will underline the diversity of CE implementation in construction projects with industrial innovation and environmental considerations. A discussion and recommendation will be provided to improve the relationship between CE practices and SDGs targets. The webinar will conclude with a 30-minute Q&A session for discussion between the research panel and participants. Register here.

13th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2022 (ICSBE)
16-18 December, 2022, Kandy, Sri Lanka

The 13th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2022 (ICSBE) or The Kandy Conference, will be held at Earls Regency Hotel, Kandy, Sri Lanka, as the next in line of a highly successful series of conferences held since December 2010 with collaborations with local and worldwide universities and research institutions. The Conference will run over three days and features general and plenary sessions and presentations, and will be accompanied by workshops and technical sessions. The Kandy Conference aims for exchanging of ideas, sharing of knowledge, and dissemination of information among academics, professionals, and policymakers on the management of the built environment all over the world. Read more

Open Calls

World Symposium of Sustainable Development Centres
28 June, 2023, 9:00–17:00 (CET), Hamburg, Germany

The Research and Transfer Centre 'Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management' in Hamburg University of Applied Sciences will organise the 'World Symposium of Sustainable Development Centres' next year in June 2023. The event will provide an opportunity for sustainable development centres from across the world to present their work, studies they are undertaking, as well as research and practical projects which may contribute to the implementation of sustainable development as a whole, the UN SDGs in particular, and in pursuing sustainable future scenarios. Furthermore, the aim is to identify, document and disseminate ideas, experiences and visions from science managers and educators, on how to foster the cause of sustainable development in a more systematic way.

Expressions of interest, (abstracts consisting of 200 words outline of a paper and/or presentation, along with the names and full contact details of the authors) should be sent to the coordinating team at: isdrup@ls.haw-hamburg.de. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 December, 2022. Full papers are due by 20 May, 2023. More information can be found here.

Latest News

COP27 Event Showcases Community-based Climate Action Education Projects
As part of the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP27), UNU-IAS organised an event on 15 November 2022, 'Beyond Classrooms: Education as a Mechanism for Community Climate Action' which discussed transformative community-based climate action. Held at the COP27 Climate Action Hub, it presented innovative ESD projects implemented by the global network of Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD (RCEs), a flagship initiative of UNU-IAS. Explaining that education could be a leverage point for climate action when going beyond knowledge to focus on action, Dr. Philip Vaughter (Consultant, UNU-IAS) highlighted RCEs' education projects that had been successful in shifting behaviours in areas such as carbon neutrality and low-carbon governance. Read more

(Photo credit: Mei Maruyama, UNU-IAS)

One Planet Network Sustainable Buildings and Construction Programme Continues Engagement Beyond 2022
The Global Strategy for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) 2023 – 2030 was approved by the Board of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production on 19 October 2022, with the participation of the Member States and various stakeholders. The Sustainable Buildings and Construction (SBC) Programme has received endorsement to continue its work being one of the key areas of impact globally under the umbrella of the One Planet Network (OPN).

The SBC Programme will continue its work on circularity and responsibly sourced materials by forming closer links with the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction. A global conference on advancing a circular built environment, Emerging Concepts for Sustainable Built Environment will take place between 23-25 November 2022 in Finland as an online event.

The OPN has a focus on climate change, and what needs to be done to plant the seeds of change to address our problems. OPN will continue its work on mainstreaming SCP and circularity across the climate change agenda will determine success in transitioning to green and inclusive economies. OPN want to show that changing how we produce and consume is the common thread which must run through climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. For further information on the SBC Programme, please contact: Usha.Iyer-Raniga@rmit.edu.au.

UNESCO Launched the ESD for 2030 Global Network
On 4 October, 2022, hundreds came together online to participate in the launch webinar of UNESCO's ESD for 2030 Global Network (ESD-Net 2030). With the support of the Government of Japan, UNESCO's new network aims to facilitate the implementation of the ESD for 2030 framework and its Roadmap by enhancing knowledge sharing, collaboration, mutual learning, advocacy, monitoring, and evaluation, among a wide range of education stakeholders. The launch webinar introduced the objective and planned activities of the Network and featured interventions from several Member States as well as an interactive session highlighting the relationship between culture and sustainability. Read more

UN Transforming Education Summit Reaffirms the Need for Education for Sustainable Development
The UN Transforming Education Summit (TES), which took place from 16-19 September in New York, reaffirmed the critical role that education plays in responding to these global challenges as over 130 countries heed the call to reimagine key transformative elements essential to ensuring that education contributes to building peaceful societies, a healthy planet, and shared progress that benefits all. Read more

ESD Okayama Award 2022 Winners Announced
The ESD Okayama Award rewards outstanding practices on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in local communities around the world. The aims of the award are to support the organisations carrying out ESD activities and to promote ESD to the communities globally through showcasing their initiatives. The award has been carried out since 2015 annually.

This year, 157 applications from 51 countries/regions were accepted. At the first round of selection, 10 projects were selected as finalists, with two projects selected as winners in the final stage.

Okayama City and the ESD Okayama Award Steering Board are pleased to announce the winners of the ESD Okayama Award 2022:

Project: The initiative 'Hamburg Learns Sustainability' has started the 'Hamburg Master Plan ESD 2030'
Organisation: Initiative 'Hamburg Learns Sustainability' (Federal Republic of Germany)

Project: Environmental Education Programme
Organisation: Green Growth Africa Sustainability Network (Green Growth Africa) (formerly International Support Network for African Development) (Federal Republic of Nigeria)

For more detailed information about the winners, please visit Okayama City's Award web page here.

COP27 Event Discusses Empowering Youth and Engaging Citizens in Science
At the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Change Conference (COP27) on 9 November 2022, UNU-IAS and UNESCO organised an official side event that explored how engaging citizens in science and empowering youth could contribute to climate action. Introducing the Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs), Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi (Director, UNU-IAS) highlighted climate education projects implemented by RCEs in Nigeria, Uganda, and the United States. These innovative approaches for empowering youth at the local level have great potential for transformative impact. Read more

Event: Creating a Circular Built Environment: the Why and How
The transition to a sustainable built environment requires the use of a circular economy - which demands radical, meaningful transformation centered around designing out waste, enhancing product lifecycles, and changing consumption habits. There is the need for major innovation in materials, new regulation to make circular products, net zero buildings and choices cost competitive, investment in research and innovation, major transformation of design practices and construction materials and waste management.

This event was organised by WBCSD, ARUP, and World Green Building Council, and held as part of the COP27 Buildings Pavilion on 14 November, 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh. It featured key industry leaders on how they are driving business to take a systematic approach to achieve a sustainable built environment system. Watch a recording of the event here.

ESD Publications & Other

Minding the GAP: An overview of five years of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) projects under the Global Action Programme (GAP) within Regional Centres of Expertise (RCEs) on ESD
Research on Regional Centers of Expertise (RCEs) on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has focused on how multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral partnerships can work to enable ESD projects, with a particular focus on how higher education institutions could effectively collaborate with community partners. However, much of this research has focused on how partners worked together (for example, what governance and coordination structures allowed higher education institutions to effectively collaborate with partners) without as much focus of investigation on what activities RCEs were working on. While diverse and compelling research on RCEs already exists, much of this research falls into conceptual theory building or case studies of individual RCE activities.

In this article, an overview and analysis of activities from RCEs around the globe is offered to provide some trend analysis for topics and modalities of ESD projects conducted during the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD which ran from 2015 to 2019. This empirical analysis can serve as record of where the Global RCE Network has been over the 5 years of the GAP, where it is now, and where it may wish to go in the future. Read the article here.

This is a publication of UNU-IAS ProSPER.Net Secretariat. The bulletin is a great way to share your activities, events and news as a ProSPER.Net member with the rest of the network. Feel free to send us any information you may deem relevant for the rest of the community by completing this form and emailing it to prospernet@unu.edu. We look forward to your inputs! Visit ProSPER.Net regularly for up-to-date news and event information.
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